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Car #1
Make
Model
Variant
Engine
Car #2
Make
Model
Variant
Engine

compare selected cars
1999. - 2001.
B - City car
hatchback, 3 door
front
Badges
Production
Vehicle class
Body style
Wheel drive
Safety
1999. - 2002.
B - City car
hatchback, 3 door
front

Marketing

Dimensons & Outlines

3743 mm
1632 mm
1418 mm
245 liters
975 liters
45 liters
Length
Width
Height
Boot (min)
Boot (max)
Fuel tank
3877 mm
1640 mm
1422 mm
250 liters
782 liters
45 liters
1999 Volkswagen Polo
1999 Seat Ibiza

Engine

Volkswagen
1.9 SDI ASY
Diesel
4 - Inline, 2 valves per cylinder
Nat. Asp.
1896 cc
64 hp
124 Nm
Engine
Fuel
Configuration
Aspiration
Displacement
Power
Torque
Volkswagen
1.9 SDI AQM
Diesel
4 - Inline, 2 valves per cylinder
Nat. Asp.
1896 cc
68 hp
133 Nm

Performance (manual gearbox)

manual gearbox - 5 gears
908 kg
15.6 s
160 km/h
7.9 l/100km
4.4 l/100km
5.7 l/100km
154 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
manual gearbox - 5 gears
1017 kg
16.0 s
161 km/h
6.7 l/100km
4.0 l/100km
5.0 l/100km
g/km

Performance (automatic gearbox)

 
kg
s
km/h
l/100km
l/100km
l/100km
g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
 
kg
s
km/h
l/100km
l/100km
l/100km
g/km

Expenses

650 EUR
Price from
750 EUR

Virtual Adviser's™ opinion

Overview

Well, these are two pretty similar cars we have here! It's only details that could potentially make the difference. Considering they both belong to the city car segment and utilize the same 3-door hatchback body style and the front wheel drive system, it all comes up to the specific diesel engine choice they offer. Both the engines are Volkswagen-engineered . The first one has a 4-cylinder, 8-valves 64hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 4-cylinder, 8-valves 68hp one.

Safety

Both vehicles got tested by European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), with the Volkswagen being a slightly better choice apparently. That aside, let's consider some other aspects which affect safety. Both vehicles belong to the city car segment, which is generally not a very good thing safety-wise, but it doesn't do much to help us decide between the two. On the other hand, if we'd like to consider vehicle mass in this context too, which we definitely should, the Spanish car offers a considerable difference of 12% more metal.

Reliability

I don't like generalizing things when it comes to reliability, although it does seem that both brands display similar results in faults and breakdowns, at least on all of the models level. That's the official data, while our visitors describe reliability of Volkswagen with an average rating of 4.2, and models under the Seat badge with 4.4 out of 5. Independent research findings rank Polo as average reliability-wise, and Ibiza is more or less at the same level.Above it all, drivers of cars with the same engine as the German car rank it on average as 4.1, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 4.3 out of 5.

Performance & Fuel economy

Volkswagen is a bit more agile, reaching 100km/h in 0.4 seconds less than its competitor. Still, it lacks the power to win the top speed competition, topping at 160 kilometers per hour, 1km/h less than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy the winner has to be the Spanish car, averaging around 5 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (57 mpg), in combined cycle. We can't ignore that 14% difference compared to the German car.


Verdict

Seat appears just a bit more reliable, although the difference is truly marginal. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In this case though, it seems that both cars show similar levels of passenger protection all together, so that won't break a tie. But one thing that actually could is the performance, with Volkswagen offering somewhat better performance, just enough to call it quicker. It does come at a cost though, and that's the fuel consumption... I believe that, when we take all into account, we have only one winner here - the Seat. In any case that's my personal view, built upon all the data available to me. What should decide here though is the way you feel about the two vehicles, and I hope you'll find my guidelines useful in the process. In case you have two minutes to spare I invite you to define your needs, desires and budget and see which car would be chosen by the virtual adviser, out of 12.000+ vehicles we currently have in our database.

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